The 2022 MLB season is in the books and while the Houston Astros can celebrate, the rest of the league immediately looks forward to the offseason and beyond.
Free agency begins on Thursday after the World Series ended on Saturday. It’s a quick turnaround for players and general managers alike.
Aaron Judge and Jacob deGrom highlight this year’s free-agent class, but there are many under-the-radar players that will be prioritized by some teams. While throwing money at a player is one way to persuade them, being open and honest with them is another.
Two-time World Series champion and current Chicago Cubs manager David Ross joined the new Audacy Original Podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” and talked about the importance of prioritizing key free agents.
“They called me, they said one of our top priorities is going to be the other catcher. It was going to be a tandem with Salty,” Ross said (17:57 in player above). “They told me I was a priority because of some of the dismay they had been through in ‘12, and trying to get together a bunch of – I don’t want to toot my own horn – but get good clubhouse guys that know baseball.”
Rather than going after a big-name free agent or two, the Red Sox signed a group of guys that were a tier or two down. Ross specifically mentioned Ryan Dempster, Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli, and Shane Victorino as the guys that helped change the clubhouse.
“All these guys are good humans as well as good players and good people,” he said. “I think that’s why we came together so fast.”
Making a decision as a free agent may seem simple from an outside perspective: either sign with the best team or sign for the most money. But it’s not that easy. If a team shows a lot of early interest in a player and prioritizes them, sometimes that’s all it takes.
“That was everything. As a player you want to feel important. You want to matter,” Ross said. “I was a backup and for them to show me – I mean dollars matter – but with the way they pursued me and the way they wanted to make something happen and the way they put their best foot forward right away. That was everything. It was an easy decision. There was nothing else even close because of how hard the Red Sox were pushing, like ‘We want David Ross. He matters.’ And to come from a career .220 hitter and a backup catcher, that was everything for me.”
It’s not often that a player – or team – can see immediate dividends from an offseason signing, but that’s what happened for Ross and the Red Sox. Boston won the World Series in Ross’ first year there and the backup catcher asked Ben Cherington afterwards what the real reason behind pursuing him was.
“He said ‘Your reputation was really good in the game and there’s run production and there’s run prevention. Looking at your numbers, you prevented runs and you won a lot of games when you were catching. That’s something we felt like we needed, that was a perfect fit for us,’” Ross recalled.
“That was really cool to hear him say that and the fact that he identified me was special because that hasn’t always been my reputation, too,” he continued. “I was proud that I was able to go somewhere like Atlanta and change my reputation to somebody that was a good teammate and valued others and winning and some of the mindset changes that I had went through as I matured and grew up was really cool for me to know that other people were out there saying that and seeing that.”
Ross went on to help end the Cubs’ long drought with a World Series victory in 2016. He retired on top and returned to the Chicago organization after the 2019 season to replace Joe Maddon as manager.
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